A survey of a wide range of new research on many aspects of life at sea in the early modern period.Maritime social history is a relatively young and fertile field, with many new research findings being discovered on a wide range of aspects of the subject. This book, together with its companion volume The Social History of English Seamen, 1485-1649 (The Boydell Press, 2011), pulls together and makes accessible this large body of research work. Subjects covered include life at sea in different parts of the period for both officers and seamen, in both the navy and in merchant ships; piracy and privateering; health, health care and disability; seamen's food; homosexuality afloat; and the role of women at sea and on land. Written by leading experts in their field, the volumesoffer a nuanced portrait of seafarers' existence as well as an overview of the current state of the historiography. CHERYL A. FURY is Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John campus) and a Fellow of the Gregg Centre for War and Society. Contributors: J.D. ALSOP, JOHN APPLEBY, JEREMY BLACK, B. R. BURG, BERNARD CAPP, PETER EARLE, CHERYL A. FURY, MARGARETTE LINCOLN, DAVID MCLEAN, N. A. M. RODGER, DAVID STARKEY

Introduction - Cheryl A. FuryThe Development of Sea Power, 1649-1815 - Cheryl A. Fury and Jeremy BlackNaval Seamen, 1650-1700 - Bernard CappOfficers and Men of the Navy, 1660-1815 - N.A. M. RodgerThe Impact of Warfare on Naval Wives and Women - Margarette LincolnOfficers, Shipboard Boys and Courts Martial for Sodomy and Indecency in the Georgian Navy - B.R. BurgHealth Provision in the Royal Navy, 1650-1815 - David McLeanThe Origins and Careers of English Merchant Seamen in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries - Peter EarlePrivate Enterprise, Public Policy and the Development of Britain's Seafaring Workforce, 1650-1815 - David J StarkeyJack Tar's Food: Masculine Self-fashioning in the Age of Sail - J.D. AlsopPirates, Privateers and Buccaneers: the Changing Face of English Piracy from the 1650s to the 1720s - John C. ApplebyConclusion - Cheryl A. FuryBibliography